Proposition de loi n°3704 seeks to limit home education (French)May 15, 2016: French families oppose a bill to switch home education to a permission-based system, instead of the current declaration-based system. The bill states that permission to home educate must be justified by one of these situations: children with medical needs or disabilities, children involved in intensive training of sports or arts, parents who travel, or too great a geographical distance to a school.

Bills Threaten Home School Freedom in FranceJune 11, 2011: Although one bill has been defeated, French homeschoolers continue to contact their representatives, urging them to oppose three other proposed bills that seek to increase the compulsory attendance age and make school attendance mandatory. (In French)

Legal Status: Homeschooling is legal and is governed by the Education Code, Article L. 131, a supplemental decree and a circular. Families must annually notify the appropriate authorities of their intent to homeschool. Although the law only gives school inspectors the authority to “verify” the teaching in a homeschool each year, the reality is often quite different. Many times, officials conduct these inspections in an arbitrary and negative manner toward homeschooling. Officials may require homeschooled students to be tested, order children back to school after only one negative report instead of two, or threaten to declare children in danger of mistreatment to coerce parents to accept the inspector's demands.